Radiology partnership to transform patient care in Hampshire
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust signs 10-year agreement with GE Healthcare including a Radiology Managed Service (RMS), a command centre, and an oncology cockpit to speed up cancer diagnosis
GE Healthcare and the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) have signed a 10-year partnership agreement with the aim of transforming radiology services and improving patient care.
The partnership includes a Radiology Managed Service (RMS) covering 120 pieces of radiology equipment, a command centre, and an ‘oncology cockpit’ to speed up cancer diagnosis.
Through the RMS agreement, GE Healthcare will manage the installation and maintenance of radiology equipment, including MR, CT, and ultrasound devices.
This will enable access to new technology throughout the agreement, supporting staff to transform radiology services offered at Basingstoke & North Hampshire Hospital and the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester.
As part of trust’s broader programme to improve speed to diagnosis for patients with suspected cancer, the agreement also includes an ‘oncology cockpit’ and a command centre.
The cockpit will map diagnostic demand and capacity constraints, helping staff to identify potential delays in the cancer pathway, simplify patient workflow, reduce waste, and ultimately improve speed to diagnosis for patients with suspected cancer.
And the command centre will use advanced analytics to give staff a near real-time system and patient overview in areas such as radiology, outpatient, and inpatient care.
This partnership will not only give us access to advanced radiology equipment, but it will also enable faster, more-accurate diagnosis and reduce waiting times for patients
Hospitals using command centre solutions around the world have reported reduced length of patient stay, increased efficiency, and improved staff satisfaction.
GE Healthcare also aims to deliver improved clinical, operational, and financial outcomes by extracting and integrating data from scanners and Radiological Information Systems (RIS) to allow visual management of the imaging pathway from referral to report.
In this way, it will optimise the capacity and performance of every piece of equipment, as well as the system as a whole, streamlining the patient pathway and helping the trust’s radiology teams deliver better outcomes for the 600,000 people it serves.
“Our vision is to provide outstanding care for every patient and, to do that, we need to bring innovation and investment into our hospitals and our clinical teams.
Our vision is to provide outstanding care for every patient and, to do that, we need to bring innovation and investment into our hospitals and our clinical teams
“This partnership will not only give us access to advanced radiology equipment, but it will also enable faster, more-accurate diagnosis and reduce waiting times for patients.”
Simon McGuire, general manager of GE Healthcare Northern Europe, added: “As we recover from the pandemic, the next few years will be challenging for everyone in the NHS, but HHFT has chosen to invest in a long-term, innovative approach to optimising capacity and empowering its outstanding radiology teams.”
The agreement extends and enhances the relationship between GE Healthcare and HHFT, following GE’s provision of ventilators and monitoring support to expand emergency department capacity in Hampshire at the height of the COVID-19 surge.
